A little slice of surfing history Chapter surf shop and more
The original idea for a Longboard club at Saunton evolved after a mornings surf session in early May of 1989. Myself (Sharky) and Andy Whitaker (Ricky Pacific) had been out for a few hours and whilst back in he car park having a brew in his wagon,

I came up with the idea of forming a club for surfers who rode Chapter Long boards. Having mulled this over we decided to go to the Thatch in Croyde for a few bevvys where we met Al Brooks and Merve Beard.

We put the suggestion to them, both thought it would be good and I got given the initial title of chairman to organize some members and arrange the first meeting at Chapter Surf Shop.
A few weeks later we got together for the inaugural meeting.

We had 10 guys turn up on the initial head count only to realize that there were only 9 of us! But by then we had come up with a club logo for the Chapter Hotdoggers and "10" had been incorporated into the design.

We had regular club meetings at the Ebbrington Arms in Knowle where the initiation involved consuming 10 pints of Bass.
In those early days we just surfed Saunton before the crowds moved in, we used to surf the cave and if there was 10-15 in the water it was busy!
I ended up being chairman of the original crew for 8 years before stepping down and handing over to Bernie Phillips as the membership grew from 10 up to 60+.

In the early days we were the underground exclusive Long board Club, we had T shirts plus a bomber jacket with a club logo.And from these early beginnings we also set in motion the legendary Chapter Longboard Classic.

This is where it all started outside the Malibu Cafe : aka "The Chapter Surf Shop" The Chapter Surf Shop was the place to get a coffee, meet and talk with your mates but most of all get your boards wetsuits surf gear and anything else you could not get in the high street shops but most of all you could buy 60s style long boards.

This is where we would arrange club meetings - plan surf trips - arrange bar b qs - keep an eye on any surfer girls that where hanging around.

From time to time you would get the odd wandering surfer turn up at the shop in this case it's Nat Young ( below) having a chat and later on a surf with a few of the guys.

Chapter Surf Shop, one of Braunton's longest running surf shops was located in south street then moved to the square, Chapter surf shop has now changed hands after 30 years. It has been taken over by the Woolacombe based Hunter boardware so the surfing roots still remain.

Al Brooks it's owner decided to call it a day after many years serving the surfing fraternity - everything from a block of wax to a board.

When Chapter first opened surfing was still in it's infancy but now it has become a mainstream sport, Al felt he had taken things as far as he could and was very grateful for all the local support he had received over the years.

It is almost the end of an era and a lot of people were disappointed but the Chapter Longboard Classic surf contest still continues to be held annually at Saunton.